The Role of the Directorate of Studies in the Legislative Work of the Hellenic Parliament
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 459 776 IR 058 270 AUTHOR Vassilouni, Stavroula TITLE The Role of the Directorate of Studies in the Legislative Work of the Hellenic Parliament. PUB DATE 2001-08-00 NOTE 8p.; In: Libraries and Librarians: Making a Difference in the Knowledge Age. Council and General Conference: Conference Programme and Proceedings (67th, Boston, MA, August 16-25, 2001); see IR 058 199. AVAILABLE FROM For full text: http://www.ifla.org. PUB TYPE Reports Descriptive (141) Speeches/Meeting Papers (150) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Evaluation Criteria; Evaluation Methods; Foreign Countries; *Government Libraries; *Legislation; Legislators; *Library Role; *Library Services; User Needs (Information); Users (Information) IDENTIFIERS Greece; *Legislative Research; *Parliamentary Libraries ABSTRACT This paper discusses the role of the Directorate of Studies in the legislative work of the Hellenic Parliament (Greece) .The first section describes the establishment and organization of the Directorate of Studies, which consists of three departments: the department for the elaboration of bills and law proposals, the department for parliamentary research and studies, and the Secretariat. The second section covers the duties and responsibilities in legislative work of the Directorate of Studies, including its principle role of assisting the legislative work of the Parliament in a purely scientific manner, impartially and objectively without any influence from political parties, as well as several domains in day-to-day parliamentary work, e.g., elaboration of reports on bills/law proposals, answering questions submitted by representatives, legislative research, and other forms of assistance. The third section presents a SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats) analysis. (Contains 31 footnotes.) (MES) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can bemade from the original document. 67th IFLA Council and General BUS Conference PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND August 16-25, 2001 DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY A.L. Van Wesemael Code Number: 104-103-E Division Number: Professional Group: Library and Research Services for Parliaments TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Joint Meeting with: 1 Meeting Number: 103 (Panel 1) Simultaneous Interpretation: The Role of the Directorate of Studies in the Legislative Work of theHellenic Parliament U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION OfficeofEdecationameseerchandimwevemem EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION Stavroula Vassilouni CENTER (ERIC) aftr This document has been reproduced as Directorate of Studies Hellenic Parliament received from the person or organization originating it. Athens, Greece 0 Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. Foreword The form of government of Greece is that of a parliamentaryrepublic'. The legislative power is exercised by the Parliament and the President of the Republic2. The Hellenic Parliament consistsof one Chamber with 300 members elected through direct, universal and secret ballot for a term of fourconsecutive years3. In practice, however, the parliamentary mandate rarely comes to an end in four years as,quite often, there is early dissolution of Parliament and promulgation of early elections - according tothe provisions of the Constitution°. The main legislative duties of MPs consist in the submission of lawproposals5, the elaboration of Bills and law proposals, participation in the work of the parliamentary committees and debate in the plenary sessionof the House. 1 Article 1 of the Constitution. The Greek Constitution was adopted in 1975 by the fifthRevisionary Parliament which was elected in 1974 - after the collapse of the seven years' military regime and the declarationof democracy. It was first amended in 1986 mainly as regards the powers of the Presidentof the Republic and amended for a second time in April 2001. This recent amendment was quite broad (about 3/5 of its articles wererevised) and its basic characteristic is the inclusion of new articles and provisions that were required by the needs of ourtime in the spirit of globalisation. 2 Article 26 of the Constitution. 3 Articles 51, 53 of the Constitution. 4 Articles 32 par. 4, 41 par. 1 & 2 of the Constitution. 5 "Bill" is the legislative Act submitted by the Government; "law proposal" is thelegislative Act submitted by MPs. Bills are the great majority of Acts submitted to the House; only a very few law proposalshave been voted by the BEST COPY AVAILABLE 4.0 Question time is when MPs exercise parliamentary control, scrutinising the actions and omissions of the Government thereby holding it to account. The members of Parliament in the exercise of their parliamentary duties enjoy the assistance of the Services of the House. Establishment and Organisation of the Directorate of Studies The Greek Constitution provides in article 65 par. 5 that "A Scientific Service to the Parliament may be established through the Standing Orders to assist the Parliament in its legislative work". This article was later elaborated in the Standing Orders of the House6 which provided for the establishment of a Scientific Service consisting of three Directorates: a) the Directorate of Studies, b) the Directorate for Informatics and New Technologies and c) the Library of the Parliament'. The Scientific Service of the House - presided over by the Scientific Council of the Parliament, made up of five eminent University Professors - is under the direct administrative supervision of the Speaker of the House and the Secretary General. In other words, the Scientific Service does not come under any of the three General Directorates of the Parliament. The aforementioned constitutional provision remained inactive until 1988 when an open competition was proclaimed to fill the posts of the Directorate of Studies8, which was designed to include in its field of activities the tasks usually undertaken by a Parliamentary Research Service. The personnel were recruited on the basis of a written and oral examination according to high-level requirements and specific qualifications9. The post of member of the Directorate of Studies is compatible to the post of University Teacher or with that of a practicing lawyer .10 However", although being parliamentary officials, they are not civil servants and are employed under an "indefinite time private law contract"I2.This decision was made by the legislature so as to enable the officials of this Directorate to Parliament and became Statute law of the State. To give an example: in the session October 1998 - May 1999, 81 Bills were discussed and voted by the House, whilst only 6 law proposals were submitted for discussion and only 1 became statute law. 6 Articles 160 -163 of the Standing Orders of the House. 7 The Library of the Parliamentone of the biggest parliamentary libraries worldwide, as concerns the number of volumeswas established in 1844 by the first Hellenic Parliament which was elected following the entry into force of the 1844 Constitution. The actual Standing Orders of the House provide that it forms part of the Scientific Service of the House. 8 The Directorate of Studies actually consists of three Departments: a) the department for the elaboration of Bills and law proposals, b) the department for parliamentary research and studies, c) the Secretariat. 9 Article 162 par. 2 of the Standing Orders reads as follows:" The Heads of Departments and the Research Fellows of the Directorate of Studies are appointed on the basis of the respective public proclamation which expressly mentions the qualifications required. The Scientific Council is responsible for the evaluation of academic qualifications, scientific research and publications of the candidates as well as for the assessment of their personal qualities. The Scientific Council submits to the Speaker of the House its recommendation for the candidates to be recruited ..." 10 Article 161 par. 3 and 162 par.2 of the Standing Orders. 11 Out of the 24 posts provided in the Standing Orders, only 14 are actually filled. The recent amendment of the Constitution has resulted in the need for modification of the Standing Orders of the House. It is actually under consideration to increase the number of personnel in the Directorate and to proceed to open competition for the recruitment of new members. 12 'Contrat de droit prive de temps indétermine'. This means that staff have the same rights and obligations as civil servants but not the same pension and social security insurance scheme benefits. The advantage is that unlike civil servants, staff employed in this way are free to continue with other professional activities. 2 be actively involved in academic and professional communities'3 and thereby, keep up to date with professional developments, thus enabling better performance of their duties in the Parliament. The organization and function of the Directorate is described in the "internal regulation" of theService and is illustrated by the following diagram. SPEAKER SECRETARY GENERAL SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL DIRECTORATE OF STUDIES DIRECTORATE OF LIBRARY OF IN FORMATION & PARLIAMENT TECHNOLOGY DEPT FOR BILLS & LAW PROPOSALS DEPT OF PARLIAMENTARY RESEARCH SECRETARIAT Duties and Responsibilities in Legislative Work The principle role of the Directorate of Studies is to assist the legislative work of the Parliament in a purely scientific marmer, impartially and objectively without